Wife of Successful Black Georgia Businessman Fights for Husband’s Release From Prison After His Controversial Conviction
By: Victor Trammell
The wife of a successful African-American businessman in Georgia is shoring up support for her husband. He is serving a life sentence for killing a trespasser who was on his property with the intent to commit a crime. She has vowed to fight for her husband, John McNeil’s release. Anita McNeil, 46 (pictured second from left), said the following quote to the news media:
“It is hard to think he got convicted. You expect the law to be on the side of the person defending themselves and not the aggressor.”
Following an initial investigation, Kennesaw, Ga., detectives concluded in 2005 that John McNeil, 45, acted in self-defense.
The case began on December 6, 2005, when McNeil received a distress call from his teenage son that a strange man was lurking around in their backyard. John immediately called 911 and told the police he was headed home. According to testimony, the man, Brian Epp, was a hired contractor that John McNeil had past disagreements with. In a previous incident, Epp pulled out a knife on McNeil’s 19-year-old son.
When McNeil returned home, Epp, who is white, refused to leave, despite being asked to do so several times. McNeil and an eye-witnesses testified that he fired a warning shot. Epp then charged towards him with his hand in his pocket and McNeil he shot him in self-defense.
As stated earlier in this article, Kennesaw Georgia police detectives finished their investigation and concluded that McNeil did not commit a crime. However, Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head decided almost a year later to charge him with murder. After a trial, McNeil was sentenced to life in prison in November 2006.
Georgia’s “Castle Doctrine” permits people to defend themselves with a weapon if they feel threatened on their own property without having to wait for the situation to escalate.
The case has caused activists to rally to Hohn McNeil’s aid. Why would a family man with no criminal background be sentenced to life in prison for protecting his loved ones and property?
The NAACP is calling for a reexamination of the case, which they see as a serious case of injustice. NAACP President Benjamin Jealous quoted the following to statement to the media:
“The events of this case can only be described as tragic. But that tragedy has been compounded by Georgia’s decision to prosecute and convict a dedicated father for protecting his family and himself on his own property.”
Earlier this year, John McNeil filed a writ for Habeas Corpus relief on the grounds that his conviction was unsound. His petition is stil pending before the Baldwin County, Georgia Superior Court.
Anita McNeil is working ardently with her husband’s attorneys to find justice for her wrongfully incarcerated husband. She is living with advanced stage cancer and is trying to stay strong in the fight to keep her family together for her husband’s sake. BlackBlueDog.com will be following the ongoing details of this case.
28 Responses to Wife of Successful Black Georgia Businessman Fights for Husband’s Release From Prison After His Controversial Conviction
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This is sad. A person works hard in order to get money and buy stuff for their home, etc. Some idiot believes that they have a right to steal it????
I wish that this poor man would have lived in West Virginia when this happened. We have a law that permits the use of force to protect yourself and your property. We refer to it as the Castle Doctrine.
I pray that this man finds an attorney who will help him with this situation. Thou Shalt Not Steal. He has a right to protect his property. Beside, you don’t know what the perpetrator would have done had he gotten inside.
God bless you my brother and your family…..keep the faith. We all must pray for justice.
Georgia has a law for that, too. Black people just can’t expect fair treatment in a court room.
So why doesnt Mrs. McNeil call upon the head of the justice dept? Eric Holder. Isn’t that why we voted him in office to stop this kind of Jim Crow modern day lynching? Why the h**l should we vote negroes in office who do nothing when injustices occur, unless it happens to them or their elite friends? They wont get my vote.
Yeah, where is Eric Holder? I don’t even recall any response from him regarding Trayvon Martin. Where are you brother Holder? Are you sleeping on the job or just simply out of touch as the rest of your colleagues?
Kim,
Georgia also has a “Castle Doctrine” law, but it appears that this law only pertains to certain individuals. Hence, people who are not of color. It seems that many states have a double standard when it comes to people of color and people not of color. Had the tables been turned and the white man who was shot was actually the shooter, he would have undoubtedly been found not guilty and set free. White people will find any and every reason to put people of color in jails and prisons for the most bogus reasons. This was basically an open and shut case. If detectives concluded that Mr. McNeil acted in self-defense, and witnesses testified that it was self-defense, than what is really wrong with this picture? We as people of color really need to get it together and stand together because if not, things are only going to get worse for us.
Good Commentary:
Let’s keep it righteous, he is in jail because he shot a caucasoid male…plain & simple!
I told y’all these racist attorneys DO NOT like to defend a Black man, even when they’re INNOCENT! This man must have court appointed attorneys because HE SHOULD NOT BE IN JAIL!!! Georgia is one of the most racist states in the country; and negroids still act like slaves toward those demon/devils in Georgia.
Like I said before: these LAWS are writtenn to protect caucasoids; not us!!!
Where those ‘colorblind’ caucasoids, now?
The federal govt USED to step in, and shut this Jim Crow sh8t down. Why in the h**l did we vote black Eric Holder to the highest court office in the land????? They are doing it because under selfish negroes, they know they can get away with it.
@monique:
This is what I’m talking about when we vote these negroids in office. They are just ‘servants’ for the caucasoids, who control them.
“We have gone from ancient slavery to modern slavery.”
-Malcolm X
WHY DONT PEOPLE OF COLOR AND PEOPLE WHY STAND FOR JUSTICE TARGET THE PROSECUTORS JOB BY RUNNING A PERSON WHO SUPPORTS FREEDOM AND JUSTICE AGAINST THEM???
Agreed sistah. If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything!!!
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It’s alright because the Man was White! If this was a Black Fool trespassing we would not be talking about this because Whitefolks see us in that Light being people who like to Rob & Steal.This Case makes me Mad as h**l! I grew up in Los Angeles where these Demons only Hired Cops from the Deep South who was in the Military! LA is a Very dishonest place they have had 2 Riots all because of Race,but they will tell you that they are Different from the rest of the Country lol yeah right! These Public Pretenders will send a Brother Up the River & to the Pen because these fools work for the State so it’s a set-up! This is what I see as a Decent Brother I would give money to try & help him get free,some of these Younger Fools I might put the Smash on them trying to run game on they own people saying that they innoscent! Not
Well one thing for sure Georgia, is in the south, snd we know that Jim Crowe is alive and well there. If Mr. McNeil, did call 911, why wase’t the police not there?. If they were doing thei job they shound have gotten there before him?. And why his 19 year old sondid not call the police if he felt threatened, this whole story dosen’t make sense.Maybe the man commit a murder to get away from his wife.And where is the son testemoney?. Sound fictious to me. Somebody have ever telling a lie, or the justice system in Georgia, is still operating under Jim Crowe.
What does Rev. Barber have to do with this story? Why is his picture there?
Boy White folks are truly something else, they just doin stuff now to show their hatred for black America & their power! Race relations are about to blow. When you’ve been pushed down far as you can go an uprising is eminent & the one ensuing is gonna be a blood bath!
@mike j:
Negroids ain’t gonna do a d**n thang, but sing, march, and cry! That’s all Sharpton and Jackson are doing…still singing, dancing and crying for justice!!!
Why do you think the government is paying these clowns?
Answer: to keep negroids in their place.
CHECK!
pat head is obviously a white supremist thats operating on a agenda to disenfranchise black men and black people whether they are successful of not. he convicts black people for sport and its disgusting, deplorable and dispicable! i agree with what monique stated if eric holder and company cant assist black folk justice then we shouldnt vote for you. by the way president obama doesnt support reparations.
Hey Mr Derrick
Don’t worry yourself about the singing , marching and dancing trust me there’s a higher being that we all have to answer to including you!!! So keep your sorry negative statements to yourself!!! What can you do but talk fool!! 1st shall be last and last shall be 1st
Because of their history, this matter would have been better left to the local police. The home owner should have documented by photos, video, and then entered his home and waited for the police to arrive and pressed trespassing and theft of property, vandalism, and what else before shooting.
@be-a-liar:
The cracker was on his property STEALING, LOITERING AROUND! He had a RIGHT to kill that cracker.
READ AGAIN:
“The case began on December 6, 2005, when McNeil received a distress call from his teenage son that a strange man was lurking around in their backyard. John immediately called 911 and told the police he was headed home. According to testimony, the man, Brian Epp, was a hired contractor that John McNeil had past disagreements with. In a previous incident, Epp pulled out a knife on McNeil’s 19-year-old son.
When McNeil returned home, Epp, who is white, refused to leave, despite being asked to do so several times. McNeil and an eye-witnesses testified that he fired a warning shot. Epp then charged towards him with his hand in his pocket and McNeil he shot him in self-defense.
As stated earlier in this article, Kennesaw Georgia police detectives finished their investigation and concluded that McNeil did not commit a crime.”
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The cracker PULLED a knive out on his son! He pulled a knive out on him at one time, and he was TRESPASSING IN HIS YARD, AND DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE! He fired a WARNING SHOT and the white boy still came forward.
THE DEFECTIVES, I MEAN DETECTIVES SAID, HE DIDN’T COMMIT A CRIME, SO QUIT CRYING!
If you saw a Black man in your backyard; you would’ve shot him FIRST, instead of shooting a warning shot! You know y’all crackers shoot a Black man FIRST, than LIE later!!!
GET REAL!
@luci:
The New Internationalbook says: “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.”
I don’t bow down to no negroid, no devil, no god, or no caucasoid!!!
I’m a God-son of the Most High Black Messiah…the ORIGINAL GODMAN, who planted the Black Seed of life into the ORIGINAL GODWOMAN!!! The apple is a fruit, that is used in the bible; to represent evil…the old fairy tale in the bible about adam and eve, and that apple!
By the way…the term god-son, comes from this scripture!
Check: How could an apple be such a bad thang, when the old saying: AN APPLE A DAY; KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY is quoted EVERYDAY by somebody, which mean good health?
What ‘adam’ did was; he ate the puzzy, and the apple represents a v****a because when you cut an apple in half; it looks like a v****a!
Let’s move on…adam is the caucasoid adam, [there were Black adam-mites millions of years BEFORE this caucasoid adam], the caucasoid adam is only 6,000 years young! Y’all know that a white boy can eat a poon-tang! And, the Black Messiah cursed him because, because, he ate the ‘apple’. If we look inside the v****a; I mean the apple; the color of the seeds are BLACK!!! Those Black seeds represent BLACK LIFE!
When the Black Messiah said, “Let US make man in OUR image”, he was speaking to the Black Godwoman, that he HAD ALREADY CREATED! The caucasoid adam did’t want no poon-tang, he just wanted to eat the ‘apple’, and this is why I call you caucasoid’s SNAKES and SERPENTS because you love being on your stomachs wiggling and shyt!
Most Black women OUT LIVE their husbands because they are the ORIGINAL MOTHERS OF THE EARTH, OR WHO BIRTHED THE EARTH!!! They are Truly the FIRST LADIES on the planet! The term “FIRST LADY” is paid homage to the FIRST BLACK GODWOMAN/LADY ON THE EARTH, WHO WAS FROM AFRIKA/ALKE-BULAN, OR “GARDEN OF EDEN”.
THE BLACK MAN AND WOMAN WERE THE “FIRST PEOPLE ON THE PLANET”; YOU AND YOUR PEOPLE [caucasoids] WERE/ARE THE LAST! YOUR TIME IS UP! YOU ARE DWINDLING, AS WE SPEAK!!!
THE BLACK SEED [SE-MEN] IS STILL PRODUCING BLACK “SONS” OUT OF THE BLACK GODWOMAN’S WOMB!!!
You said all I do is talk; therefore, keep reading; you might learn something; white boy!!!
DON’T FORGET THAT APPLE…you big dummy!!!
Yes! Segregation isn’t dead..Blacks that kills a white man will go to prison and stay there until judgement day..This man was protecting his family, property and his life. The white man had know right to be on his property. Justice isn’t blind…It’s white washed….May the NAACP and other civil rights orgranization join this effort to get him released..
You Racist White Pieces Of Trash Is Making Me Want To Get Out And Start Removing You From This World But I Am Going To Let Father God And Lord Jesus Lead Me. If A White Man Had Killed That Piece Of Trash On His Property He Would Not Got A Day In Jail Or Prison. You White Racist Better Stop Doing These Things To My AFrican AMerican MEN And WOMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Or We Are Going To Start Getting Even With Your Racist Behinds.
To my sister ‘Monique, Eric Holder is not an elected official. He was appointed to the position by the President and was confirmed by the United States Senate to over see the Justice Department. This is a little history that all citizen should know.
Samuel, whether appointed, elected, or just simply walked into the position has no bearing on “where is he?” Again, was he appointed to just simply collect a paycheck and to continue to say “yes sir massa sir?” It is certainly obvious to me. It doesn’t matter, I know who got our backs and why such things are occurring. As someone else essentially posted previously, The Most High will show up on time, and in His appointed time. Not one of His is lost!!! And, they are just heaping coals on top of their own heads, but “they shall drink and they shall swallow down!”
Kennesaw, Ga. is probably the most pro-gun location in the country. At one time they even had a law on the books, requiring every household to have a firearm present. Don’t know, it maybe still on the books. So I find it as not surprise that the local LEOs found no reason to bring charges. What puzzles me is the decision the County Prosecutors office to bring the gentleman to trial. Its even more puzzling when you consider Ga.’s Castle Doctrine.
If this account is correct, then the man acted properly. Let me stress if its correct. Seems like a lot of holes in this reporting.
What did Cobb County have to do with this situation. Can no one defeat Cobb County or can the come into any situation and take a person apart!!!